Monday, September 3, 2012

Taxonomy of Non-Seed Vascular Plants

Today's post will take a look at the general taxonomy of another group of plants in the vascular plant subkingdom -- the non-seed vascular plants. The seed plants, the angiosperms and gymnosperms, having already been covered earlier, it is high time we move to the non-seed plants! These plants reproduce through alternation of generations and make use of spores, rather than the seeds that we might usually associate with plants.

The most famous group of non-seed vascular plants, by far, is that of the Ferns. Certainly, too, many folks are rather familiar with Horsetails, as well.

From left to right: Horsetails, Ferns, and Ground Pine (a type of Club-Moss or Lycopod)

So, without further ado, here is an overview of the non-seed vascular plants, and please know that this is not an exhaustive list:
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Kingdom Plantae

Subkingdom Tracheobionta[Vascular Plants]

Division Equisetophyta
[Horsetails]

·Class Equisetopsida
or Sphenopsida

oOrder Equisetales

§Family Equisetaceae [Horsetail family]

Division
Lycopodiophyta [Lycopods]

·Class Lycopodiopsida

oOrder Isoetales

§Family Isoetaceae [Quillwort family]

oOrder
Lycopodiales

§Family Lycopodiaceae [Club-moss family]

oOrder
Selaginellales

§Family Selaginellaceae [Spike-moss family]

Division Psilophyta
[Whisk-ferns]

·Class Psilopsida

oOrder Psilotales

§Family Psilotaceae [Whisk-fern family]

Division
Pteridophyta [Ferns]

·Class Filicopsida

oOrder Hydropteridales
[Water Ferns, 3 families]

oOrder Marattiales

§Family Marattiaceae [Vessel Fern family]

oOrder Ophioglossales

§Family Ophioglossaceae [Adder’s-tongue family]

oOrder
Polypodiales

§Family Aspleniaceae [Spleenwort family]

§Family Cyatheaceae [Tree Fern family]

§Family Dennstaedtiaceae [Bracken Fern family]

§Family Dryopteridaceae [Wood Fern family]

§Family Hymenophyllaceae [Filmy Fern family]

§Family Osmundaceae [Royal Fern family]

§Family Polypodiaceae [Polypody family]

§Family Pteridaceae [Maidenhair Fern family]

§Family Schizaeaceae [Curly-grass family]

§Family Thelypteridaceae [Marsh Fern family]

Nota bene: taxonomy is always a matter of debate and
discussion – you may find different arrangements than those listed here.